Social media giant Meta is under fire for running Facebook and Instagram ads promoting illegal online casinos to Australians, due to a legal loophole that leaves the regulator powerless.
Millions of Australians are being served the ads spruiking a range of different online casinos, which are outlawed in Australia. Despite this, it is not an offence for individuals to access the countless offshore-registered online casino operators who invest in advertising their websites to Australians.
Ads promote poker machine apps, roulette simulators and blackjack games, as well as websites spoofing established brands like Crown Melbourne and Star – neither of which operate online gambling services.
The websites face none of the strict regulations that registered gambling companies do, including harm minimisation warnings in ads. Instead, they are headquartered in a range of countries, from European Union states to tiny nations such as Curacao, with more lax gambling laws.
Ads appear as direct website links or fake smartphone apps that act as browser shortcuts to illegal sites. Influencers, including many young women simultaneously plugging adult content on OnlyFans accounts, are also directing followers to these illegal casinos in exchange for referral commissions.
Because they are unregulated, these platforms offer little clarity on odds or how to redeem winnings.
Meta, the $US1.52 trillion ($2.14 trillion)-valued company helmed by Mark Zuckerberg, also runs ads for “social casinos” that sell users virtual tokens or chips to play with but don’t allow real-money cashouts, legally exempting them from the remit of gambling regulations.
While advertising such illegal gambling to Australians is itself illegal, the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) cannot penalise Meta due to a loophole preventing it from taking action.
“To make an advertising breach finding the ACMA needs to be satisfied that where ads are appearing on websites the majority of persons who are accessing the site are physically present in Australia,” the regulator’s spokesman said.
Gambling reforms currently before the parliament propose broadening the remit to allow ACMA to act if an ad is merely accessible to an Australian user. Currently, ACMA can only request Meta voluntarily remove offending content.
Advertising is increasingly lucrative for Meta. It posted $US196 billion in ad revenue in 2025 and its yearly ad revenues are forecast to reach $US240 billion in 2026, according to the World Advertising Research Centre.
A Meta spokeswoman did not address questions about the legality of promoting prohibited gambling websites to Australians. Instead, the spokeswoman said: “tackling sophisticated criminal networks like these requires co-ordinated action across the ecosystem, from domain registrars and hosting providers to regulators with the power to block illegal gambling websites”.
Regarding websites spoofing known, legal gambling brands, she said: “we have disabled ad accounts connected to this activity for violating our policies and are continuing to investigate the matter”.
Meta said that it removed more than 159 million scam ads globally last year.
Research from cybersecurity firm NordVPN found that “affiliate” marketers often place these ads.
These are third-party businesses or individuals who are entitled to ongoing commissions on a share of a customer’s gambling losses – sometimes 20 per cent – for those who joined from their referral link.
Marijus Briedis, NordVPN’s chief technology officer, said organised crime often underpins brand impersonation ads.
“What we’re looking at is essentially trust laundering … By the time a victim realises something is wrong, they’ve already deposited money into a casino they’ve never heard of,” Briedis said.
Spokespeople for Crown and Star reiterated they don’t operate online gambling and employ specialist services to continuously monitor for and request the removal of these third-party spoof sites.
Gambling Policy Hub director Lauren Levin said that Meta has proven it has the tools to detect such illegal gambling ads, noting it successfully filters these ads in Ireland and Indonesia to meet local laws.
“What on earth is Meta doing showing Australians illegal marketing?” said Levin, a proponent of a broad ban on gambling ads. “There really is no excuse for the Australian government not to invoke the same systems in place overseas, to protect Australians from being targeted.”
Levin said she herself has been “bombarded” by online casino ads on Meta platforms. As an experiment, she blocked and reported the ads, but found that ads for similar services sprung up on her algorithm in their place.
“It is so hard for people with a gambling issue to try and get away from this bombardment, facilitated by Meta and other advertising,” she said. “It is the wild west. There is no consumer protection to be seen,” Levin said.
Charles Livingstone, an associate professor and head of Monash University’s Gambling and Social Determinants Unit, said there had been an “explosion” of illegal sites in recent months. He said this includes “scambling sites” which appear as online casinos but are impossible to win money from.
Livingstone said that while Meta claims to have policies that they observe regulations in every country in which they operate, the company was failing in Australia.
“The reality is Meta has the tools to detect this fairly readily, they boast about how targeted their advertising can be, and they react swiftly after big companies lodge copyright complaints [to take down content].”
“This tells you those big brands have more influence with Meta than the Australian government does,” he said.
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Elias Visontay is a National Consumer Affairs Reporter at The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.Connect via email.From our partners
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